Star Crossed Lovers
by Esme7Cullen
Summary: A Jim and Ariel love story with a Romeo and Juliet twist on it. Enjoy!


It was a glorious sunny day in Paris and Princess Ariel was glad to finally see some sunshine. Ariel was the only heir to her father's throne back in England and her sunny vacation spot was a pleasant change from the ever cloudy skies in London. The smells of fresh bread always wafted through the cobblestone streets, the Eiffel tower loaming in the distance. Ariel had finally had enough of her father's pushing for her to marry and take over the throne. She was only sixteen and wanted to have some fun, to be a normal girl, even if it was only for a short while. On that particular afternoon Ariel had a garden party to attend at her uncle's mansion. Ariel wasn't looking forward to it, but she didn't have much say in the matter. She put on her pastel pink floral dress and arrived at the mansion exactly on time. After an hour or so of chit chat though the young princess was bored of the elder companions and wondered off to stroll in the gardens. As she turned a corner in the hedge maze Ariel bumped a young man she had never seen before. He was just a hint taller than her with a strong build of a sailor. He had dark chestnut hair with a small ponytail in the back. He had long bangs in the front that nearly completely hid his sapphire eyes. Ariel could easily say, without a doubt, that he was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!" The stranger continued apologizing. Ariel just giggled.

"It's fine! No harm done." Ariel told him. The two young teens stayed hooked on each other's gaze for a good minute before the young man came out of their trance to introduce himself.

"I'm so sorry, where are my manners. I was never one for titles, my name is Jim, Jim Hawkins, and might I say that running into you has been the best part of my day." And he placed a soft kiss to her hand. Ariel blushed a slightly at his last comment.

"Hello Jim, if you get past all the titles, my name is Ariel and it has been my pleasure meeting you."

The two continued chatting as they strolled through the gardens together for the rest of the garden party. It turned out that Jim was not only handsome, but smart and very funny. Eventually they had walked the entire expanse of the gardens and then Jim made a suggestion.

"Ariel, why don't we go out into the city for a while?"

Ariel didn't take a second thought. This was her chance to go out and be a normal girl for once in her life. She wasn't going to let it slip by! So the two snuck off and spent the next three hours touring around the city. By the time Ariel got back to her hotel she knew that she was in love with Jim and drifted off to sleep thinking of him.

The very next day Ariel's father demanded for her to return home at once. Ariel was sad to be leaving Jim behind, but she had no choice. She wrote him a letter telling him she loved him, but that she had to return home and hoped to see him soon. Upon her arrival back in England her father, King Triton, had a meeting with her in his office. Apparently lots of photographers were out that day since every paper had Ariel and Jim on the very front cover.

"Do you even know who this boy is?" Triton demanded of his daughter.

"This boy is the prince of Denmark! They've been our enemy for the past decade, child! You cannot be with him. It is out of the question!" He bellowed. Ariel begged him to reconsider,

"Daddy, please! I love him!" But King Triton merely scolded her for her insolence.

"That just goes to show you how naive you truly are. This only shows me that you are certainly not fit to choose your own husband so I will arrange it for you myself. Just last week I received a letter from King Erik of Germany asking for your hand. He is a fine man and it will strengthen the alliance between us and the German people. We can have the wedding three weeks from now." Ariel could not believe what she was hearing; she wouldn't go through with this!

"Daddy, I can't marry Erik! I don't love him! You can't…"

Triton rose from his chair and pointed to the door without uttering a word, he didn't have to. Ariel ran from the room in tears. Two weeks later Ariel was in a shimmering aqua ball gown waiting to be called to make her grand entrance with Erik to her engagement ball. Erik had turned out to be even more repulsive than she remembered. Erik was twice her own age with jet black hair, chocolate brown eyes and displayed an aura that screamed arrogance. Erik was entirely about himself all of the time; he only wanted Ariel because she was defined as one of the most beautiful girls in all of Europe. Just than Jim climbed up onto her balcony and rushed to embrace her.

"I'm not going to let that pig take you away from me. I don't care what my family thinks, Ariel, I love you." Jim explained as he held her in his embrace. Without another moment to lose Jim helped Ariel climb down the castle wall and the couple began to dart away from the palace.

Unfortunately Erik had caught a glimpse of Jim beforehand and was waiting with a sword in hand. Jim led Ariel through some of the gardens, but before they made it to the gate out, Jim turned a corner and ran straight into Erik's sword. Ariel screamed when she saw Jim's bloody form collapse to the firm ground. Erik told Ariel that everything was alright, and ran to fetch the guards. He wanted to be sure to tell them that Jim had penetrated the castle's fortifications and attempted to kidnap the princess. In his rush Erik left his sword and Ariel held the dying Jim in her arms until he uttered his final words,

"Ariel, I love you." Ariel knew that Jim was dead, but didn't want to live the rest of her life without him so she took hold of Erik's sword and ran it straight through her heart. By the time Erik returned with the palace guards both Jim and Ariel lay on the ground dead in each other's arms. When King Triton and Jim's mother, Queen Sarah, learned of their children's death they mourned together. The two royals finally understood how much their children had loved one another and decided that their deaths would not be in vain. Soon afterwards both royals declared England and Denmark allies and built statues of their children in their own capitals so that no one would ever forget the love that brought the two nations together.


End file.
